Alternative bets and betting structure in pai gow poker games

ABSTRACT

Pai Gow poker wagering card game is played by: a) Players wagering on a Pai Gow game; b) Players placing an optional wager against a pay table on a specified color combination of playing cards in a separate game that uses only residual cards from the Pai Gow poker game; c) dealing seven-card hands from a set of cards to six player positions and one dealer position, leaving at least three residual cards that have not been dealt to players or the dealer as residual cards; d) resolving the game of Pai Gow poker; e) comparing playing cards in the residual cards to the specific color combination wagered on in step b); and f) paying players who have placed the optional wager when the color combination in the residual cards matches the color combination wagered on in step b) and wherein playing cards are provided as either physical playing cards on a gaming table or are provided as virtual playing cards from a processor having an associated random number generator. A tie-breaking event may also be included in the game using residual cards.

RELATED APPLICATION DATA

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/657,515, filed 22 Jan. 2010.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the filed of casino gaming, games using playing cards as random symbol generators and especially to variants of Pai Gow poker. The game includes traditional Pai Gow poker and the option or requirement of two side bet wagers, one on a paytable vent and the other as Tie Breaker in the underlying Pai Gow poker game.

2. Background of the Art

Although the game of Pai Gow Poker, frequently referred to as Asian Poker, has been around for many years, it has not received wide spread play in gambling casinos throughout the United States. As is well known in the art, the game is played with either tiles or with a standard deck of 52 playing cards with one Joker added. In some versions of the game, a joker is utilized to represent only a limited number of cards such as an Ace or as part of a Straight or Flush. Rankings in Pai Gow Poker are substantially the same as rankings in other types of poker games.

Pai Gow Poker is typically played in a casino at a table much like that used for Blackjack, casino table poker variants, Baccarat or the like, except that there is typically one less player position. That is, there is a dealer position and six player positions equally spaced around the perimeter of the table. The game is limited to six player hands and a dealer hand, using 49 cards, and leaving four remaining cards. At each player position, there are normally markings or indicia for setting the dealer's and players' high and low hands (explained hereinafter) and a spot for each player to place his or her Ante or Bet.

The game is typically started by each player placing a bet. The dealer then deals seven cards to himself and seven cards to each of the six player positions, using 49 of the 53 cards in the playing card deck. Each player, including the dealer, then forms two hands from the holdings of seven cards. One hand, referred to as the low hand, consists of two of the dealt cards. The other hand, referred to as the high hand, consists of the remaining five cards that were dealt to that player. The high hand must be higher in poker rank than the low hand. If the hand is a Pai Gow (no ranked hands possible higher then an Ace high), then the highest ranked card must be present in the high hand.

he only requirement in forming or setting the high and low hands is that the low hand must be of a lower rank than the high hand. The ranking of the hands is similar to traditional poker with the exception as pointed out above that the joker can be used to represent an ace or to represent any one card of either a straight or a flush. Thus, the highest possible hand is five aces.

If the player's low hand and high hand are both higher in rank than the low and high hand of the dealer or banker, the player is a winner and the banker loses. However, if both of the dealer's or banker's hands are higher than the player's, the player is a loser and the banker wins. If only one of either of the player's hands tie or lose to the comparable dealer's hand, the round is considered a push. Under some house rules, the banker's hand is normally considered to be the winner in the event of a tie in both hands or even one hand, although this latter rule is rarely in play.

If the player's low hand is of a higher rank than the banker's low hand but the player's high hand is of a lower rank than the banker's high hand, neither wins and there is considered to be a push. Similarly, a push exists when a player's low hand is of a lower rank than the banker's low hand and the player's high hand is of a higher rank of the banker's high hand. There is, therefore, no winner when a push exists.

In some casinos, the banker and the dealer are one and the same and is employed by the casino. The dealer is employed by the casino and deals the cards but is also a player. More frequently, however, the players are given an option, in turn, to be the banker and each of the other players would then play against the banker/player. (The banker is the dealer or player who is responsible for paying or collecting from each of the players.) When this is done, the house, that is, the establishment operating the game, takes a commission by way of a percentage on all winning wagers or is paid a flat commission per round or per hour.

The house also takes a commission or ante from each player when they win. The commission may be about 1% of the wager, such as taking $0.25 from a $25 wager, $0.50 from a $25-50 wager, and $0.75 for a wager between $51-75. There are numerous ways in which the house can collect on a player-banked game.

There are a few special bonuses that can be won at Pai Gow poker. In some locations, there may be bonuses for specially ranked hands, such as a Pair of Aces and four of a kind or higher, and a special bonus or jackpot for a pair of Aces as the low hand and a straight flush or royal flush for the high hand.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,491,302 describes a method of playing a Pai Gow poker game in which, in addition to the usual seven cards dealt to each player and the dealer, a single player tiebreaker card is dealt for all players and a single dealer tiebreaker card is dealt to the dealer. The ante bet of each player is then paid off for winning and losing hands in the usual manner of a Pai Gow game. However, with push hands (where only one of the two-card hand and five-card hand of the player has a higher poker rank than the respective two-card hand and five-card hand of the dealer), the winner is determined by the higher value of the player and dealer tiebreaker cards so that no push bets occur.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,472 describes an improved game of Pai Gow is set forth which includes offering the player an optional bonus wager. Should the tiles of the Player's hand match any predetermined bonus outcome tile combination, the Player receives a reward for their bonus wager regardless of whether or not the Player has won their hand according to the rules of Pai Gow.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,424 describes a method, device and system for playing a new game of Pai Gow Poker. The method includes dealing seven cards to the dealer and to each player, the players and dealer each from those seven cards assembling a five card high hand and a two card low hand. For the player to win their wager, both the player's high and low hands must outrank the dealer's hands according to the ranking of hands of Jacks or better. All other hands are losses. The method provides for greater payoffs if the player has one of a plurality of payoff qualifying holdings. The device includes a processor programmed to play the game according to the method. The system provides for linking devices to amass a progressive jackpot payout should the player obtain a qualifying holding.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,070,876 describes an improved game of Pai Gow that includes offering the player an optional bonus wager. Should the tiles of the Player's hand match any predetermined bonus outcome tile combination, the Player receives a reward for their bonus wager regardless of whether or not the Player has won their hand according to the rules of Pai Gow. The game also provides the option to make a tie wager.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,113,103 teaches a variation of Pai Gow Poker known as Dragon Poker. A player posts a wager and is dealt a first four of seven cards face down. A bank is dealt a first a first four of seven cards, three of which are dealt face up. The player is then given an option of surrendering and receiving a return of a portion of the wager. With the surrender, the player's participation in the game is at an end. The player who does not surrender is a surviving player who may be given an option of increasing the wager. The surviving player and the bank are each dealt three additional cards to enable formation of a player back hand and a player front hand and formation of a bank back hand and a bank front hand. After the hands are formed, the wager is resolved.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,863,041 (Boylan) describes a method of playing a Pai Gow poker wagering game in which an Ante bet is initially wagered and a Bonus bet is also wagered by at least one player. Seven cards are then dealt to each player and the dealer, and arranged into a two-card hand and a five-card hand. The ante bet of each player is then paid off to in the usual manner for Pai Gow poker. Thereafter, a best five card poker hand is arranged by the dealer for each player from the seven cards initially dealt to the player, and the bonus bet is paid off if the best poker hand has a poker rank equal to or better than a first predetermined rank (straight) but less than a second predetermined rank (royal flush). Next, the dealer determines whether the best poker hand of each player has a poker rank better than or equal to the second predetermined rank so that an auxiliary game of chance, such as rolling three dice, is then played to determine whether the bonus bet is paid off at a first payoff where the player is a loser or at a second payoff higher than the first payoff. In addition, the dealer then determines whether each player has made a bonus bet of a predetermined minimum, which is then paid off if any other player has a best poker hand equal to or better than a third predetermined rank (four of a kind).

U.S. Pat. No. 6,270,078 (Leone et al.) describes version of the game Pai Gow Poker that allows a player to bet against the house and/or to bet against the other players. In addition to the conventional betting spot for placing an optional bet against the banker, an additional betting spot is located in front of each of the players that allows the player to optionally bet against the house. This can be done whether or not the house is the banker. Thus, even if a fellow player has been designated as the banker, each other player can still choose to play against only the house. Each player can, of course, play against his or her fellow player/banker but is not required to do so. Each player can play against the house, against his or her fellow player/banker, against neither or against both. This game does not use the residual cards to resolve a side bet game.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,486 describes a method of playing a game of Pai Gow poker comprising: a player placing a first wager; a player placing a jackpot bet; and a dealer dealing seven cards to himself and said player. Each player arranges his/her cards into a low hand including two of said seven cards and a high hand including five of said seven cards Each player evaluates the cards and determining whether the cards comprise a predetermined jackpot card holding of a low hand pair and a high hand of one of (i) four aces and the joker, (ii) a royal flush, (iii) a straight flush, (iv) four of a kind, (v) full house, (vi) flush or (vii) straight. Players are paid a jackpot amount if the player has a jackpot holding. The winner of the first wager is determined by comparing a low hand of said dealer to said low hand of said player and a high hand of said dealer to said high hand of said player. This reference does not describe the use of residual cards to resolve a side bet in a game of Pai Gow poker.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,061 describes a method of eliminating a push in a game of Pai Gow Poker where a player and a banker are each dealt seven cards from a standard deck of 52 playing cards plus a Joker, the player and the banker each forming a High Hand and a Low hand from the dealt cards. The method describes the steps of: assigning a numerical value to each card; comparing a card in a player's hand to a corresponding card in a banker's hand; and designating a winner based upon whether or not the corresponding cards have total numerical values that are either both odd or both even.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,422,564 describes a poker game in which a hand used in play is created from discarded cards from player hands. The game is played with a lower numerical ranking portion of a deck comprising the card ranks of Two through Eight of a typical fifty-two card Poker deck. The game method includes the steps of each player placing an initial wager to participate in the game. Five cards are dealt to each player position by the dealer. Players inspect their cards and must discard the highest numerical ranking card in their hand and place that card into a designated high card area in front of that player position. If player positions are not occupied, the dealer retrieves the highest numerical ranking card from hands dealt to unoccupied positions and places those cards into the designated high card area in front of that unoccupied player position. Next, players decide which two cards of their remaining four cards they wish to hold and use to build their mandatory two card hand. Players must place the two cards into an appropriate depicted hold card area in front of that player position. Players must then discard the remaining two cards into an appropriate depicted discard area in front of that player position. Each player then has the benefit of a two card hand. The dealer chooses the house's two card hand from the pool of high cards discarded by the players and placed in the designated area. The dealer indicates the choices by placing an indicator apparatus onto each of the two cards chosen. The dealer informs the players of the houses two card hand. Finally all cards in each occupied player positions are shown, and the payouts to the winning hands and the collections of the losing hands wagers are resolved. The players are playing against the dealer and not against each other.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,481,719 and 6,012,719 describe a card game that combines the play of Blackjack (“21”) with a 3-card Poker wager or side bet (“21+3”). Each player places a basic Blackjack wager and an optional 3-card Poker wager before the cards are dealt. Each player is then dealt a card with the dealer receiving a face-up card. Each player is then dealt a second card. At this point, the outcome of each 3-card Poker hand is determined, where a 3-card Poker hand consists of the 2-card hand dealt to that player and the dealer's face-up card. After settling the Poker wagers, the game of Blackjack continues in a typical fashion. The invention advantageously retains all the features and advantages of Blackjack as well as provides an additional opportunity to wager on a hand of 3-card Poker, without interfering with the card dealing sequence, for enhanced player anticipation and enjoyment.

Although Pai Gow poker has achieved a level of success where it is present in most card rooms, it is desirable to provide additional features to the game that can make it even more attractive and successful.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A bonus event with a side bet is combined with the traditional game of Pai Gow poker. The bonus event does not in any way alter the strategy of play of the game. The Bonus event requires no additional cards, and adds interest to the game. Each player may make a side bet wager to enter the bonus game. The game may be played and resolved before play of the Pai Gow game or after play of the Pai Gow game. The wager is made against a pay table, rather then against other players and/or the house. The wager is made on whether the three discards or residual cards (with a 52 card deck without joker) or the first or last three cards of the four discards or residual cards will provide a basis for winning the first side bet. The wager on the first side bet by the wager is on a specific color combination (i.e., red or black) for at least two of the three (or three-of-four) residual cards. The player wins 1:1 on the side bet if at least two of the four residual cards is the color wagered on are present in the residual cards. Additional rules may be added to this underlying game play to adjust the house retention. One rule that tends to be compulsory in the game is that the presence of the joker in the four-card residual hand automatically loses the first side bet wager.

A second type of underlying wager includes a tie breaker. Ties occur between a dealer and a player over 25% of the times in normal play of Pai Gow. It is desirable to many players and the casino to have each game finally resolved, so that when there is a tie, some event can be used to resolve the tie and the underlying game wager. The game breaker is preferably either w wager in advance of the playing cards being dealt (again on a color, e.g., red or black) or by automatically selecting a single one of the four residual cards, selected in a standardized manner, such as the first card or the last card in the four-card discard set. The selection of the joker will again cause the player to lose the side bet, as by losing the underlying wager in either vent.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows the table format for placing the side bet wager, referred to herein as the Yin-Yang Side Bet™ wager.

FIG. 2 shows the table format for placing the alternative or mandatory underlying game wager, referred to as the Tie Breaker Pai Gow™ wager.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention includes a method of playing a wagering game under the control of a dealer using steps that may include:

-   -   a) a set of physical playing cards is used to provide random         physical playing cards during play of the wagering game. (The         random playing cards may be cards dealt in order from a         randomized set of cards, cards randomly chosen from a randomized         (e.g., shuffled, reordered, etc.), cards randomly chosen from an         ordered or spent (but not again separately randomized), and the         like);     -   b) a dealer accepts wagers at at least one player position in a         Pai Gow game (the wager acceptance may be as tokens, chips,         currency, and/or electronic wagering or credits);     -   c) a dealer accepts at the at least one player position an         optional wager against a pay table on a specified color         combination of playing cards in a separate game that uses only         residual cards from the Pai Gow poker game;     -   d) the dealer dealing seven-card hands of physical playing cards         of random cards from the set of physical playing cards to six         player positions and one dealer position, leaving at least three         residual physical playing cards that have not been dealt to         player positions or the dealer position as residual cards;     -   e) the dealer resolving the wagers on the game of Pai Gow poker;     -   f) the dealer comparing physical playing cards in the residual         physical playing cards to the specific color combination wagered         on in step b); and     -   g) and f) the dealer paying player positions where the dealer         has accepted the optional wager when the color combination in         the residual cards matches the color combination wagered on in         step b) without regard to general same suit combinations in the         residual cards (that is, the optional wager is not made on any         flush, but is wagered on colors, which include diamonds and         hearts as one color—red, and spades and clubs, which covers         another color—black. Also, a specific combination of a specific         suit may be made, such as three clubs, OR three spades, OR three         hearts, OR three diamonds, but without a wager of any three         cards in any single suit) and         wherein the physical playing cards are provided as physical         playing cards on a gaming table. At least some impact of the         wager and resolution must specifically consider colors only,         without regard to suits. That is what is meant by the         terminology of “color combination,” a consideration independent         of suits.

The game may also require that at least:

-   -   a) a set of playing cards is shuffled to form a randomized set         of playing cards.

The set of playing cards should comprise at least a standard deck of playing cards, fifty-two cards having four suits (spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs) having ranks from 2 to Ace. Multiple decks and/or specialty cards may also be included with the deck. The deck(s) must be randomized by shuffling to provide cards in a random order. The transformation of cards into a random order must be done before the play of each round of the game so that the cards provided cannot be predicted with any significant degree of certainty. Shuffling may be effected manually or mechanically. Manual shuffling is effected by one or more of mixing playing cards by moving them randomly over a gaming table surface, or by interleaving sections of the decks of cards together multiple times.

Mechanical shuffling may be performed by automated shufflers that may be electromechanical or mechanical equipment that is commercially available. These automated shufflers may operate by interleaving cards, removing cards from an input set of cards and moving cards to compartments in stacks or carousels, randomly mixing cards by inserting cards into random portions of shuffled stack's) of cards, random ejection or random removal of cards from an input set of cards to an output set of randomized cards, and the like. Such shuffler systems are known in the art such as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,976,023; 7,413,191; 7,407,438; 7,384,044; 7,374,170; 7,367,561; 7,338,044; 7,255,344; 6,722,794; 6,719,288; 6,676,127; 6,655,684; 6,568,678; 6,629,894; 6,346,044; 6,325,373; 6,165,069; 6,126,166; 5,989,122; 5,695,189; and 4,586,712. These are merely representative examples of the types of shufflers that may be used and are not interpreted as limiting either as batch shufflers, continuous shufflers or as to the type of shuffling performed.

An exemplary chipless table system is disclosed in co-pending U.S. applications Ser. No. 12/218,583, filed Jul. 15, 2008 and Ser. No. 12/231,759, filed Sep. 5, 2008. All references to patents, applications and publications made herein are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.

In one form of the invention, the game is played according to a live gaming table format. Such a format typically includes a standard gaming table with a substantially horizontal gaming surface, and with a printed felt layout. Built into the table or positioned on the table is provided a card handling device, which in one example is an automatic card shuffling device with playing card recognition capacity. An example of a suitable device is disclosed in pending application Ser. No. 11/810,864, filed Jun. 6, 2007, the content which is incorporated by reference into entirety. The card handling device preferably is equipped with a processor that controls card handling functions, receives and stores card information from the card recognition components and also is programmed with “house way” hand setting instructions for the game. The shuffler reads each card in each set of cards. For example, when the shuffler is programmed to deliver a set of six cards to each player and the dealer, the identity of each card in each set is stored in the processor's memory. Each set of cards is delivered to each player and to the dealer. In other embodiments, the card handling device is a shoe, and in order to capture the identity of each card in the set, the dealer inputs a command to designate the first and last card dealt into the set of cards. This type of system is similar to and may be enabled according to the teachings of Published US Patent Application Document 20100090405 filed 1 Oct. 2009 (Roger Snow) which is incorporated herein by reference.

The processor preferably has memory and preconfigured hardware (e.g., FPGA or ASIC) content that may be accessed. In the memory may be stored a look-up table of possible arrangements of six or other number of cards into a high-hand, mid-hand and low-hand, and identifies how each hand should be set according to house way rules. One way to display the house way rules is to provide an electronic house way display on the gaming table, and to display the rank and/or suit of at least two of the three hands. Upon display, the dealer sets the hand according to the house way rules.

Although the present invention has been described in terms of a live casino style game played with cards, chips and optionally an automatic card shuffler, it can be appreciated that the game may be offered in other formats, some well known, and other newer formats. Some non-limiting examples of other formats for offering games of the present invention include: live gaming tables that use physical cards and other game pieces and that enable credit wagering, electronic single player gaming machines, electronic multi-player gaming machines, hybrid gaming systems with physical game pieces and/or components for determining game outcome but that enable credit wagering such as the Rapid™ gaming systems distributed by Shuffle Master, Inc., games for practice play (i.e.—no monetary wagering) on cell phones, gaming stations, PC's, wireless gaming platforms, hand held game devices, parlor games, and the like and some emerging gaming opportunities including but not limited to internet gaming and gaming on systems designed specifically for use on aircrafts, etc.

Other alternative methods of play are described below.

One generic concept for play includes steps on a physical gaming table, which preferably has an automatic, mechanical or electromechanical playing card shuffler wherein:

-   -   a) a set of playing cards is shuffled or random playing cards         are provided from the physical set of playing cards (preferably         by the automated shuffler or playing card randomizing machine)         to form a randomized set of playing cards or to provide random         cards for delivery by the dealer;     -   b) the dealer requires appropriate wagers at a player position         as described;     -   c) the dealer dealing exactly the numbers of random cards (from         a shuffled deck or randomly from a set of cards) as needed from         the randomized set of playing cards to each location to the two         player positions;     -   d) three card hand at a dealer's position (either after steps c,         d or e; and     -   e) the dealer resolving two wagers by comparing ranks of each of         the player position hands against a poker rank at the dealer's         position.

When playing cards have been removed from an original, complete or intermediate set of cards, the remaining cards are referred to as a depleted set or deck of cards.

Computer-Based Implementations

Methods of the present invention may be implemented in computer hardware, software, or computer hardware and software. A most common form of computer implementation is a stand-alone, single player electronic gaming machine with electronic player controls and one or more video output screens.

In computer-based embodiments, the gaming device preferably includes at least one processor, such as a microprocessor, a microcontroller-based platform, a suitable integrated circuit or one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC's) or Field Programmable Gated Arrays (FPGA's). The processor is in communication with or operable to access or to exchange signals with at least one data storage or memory device, and/or a player monitor or monitors. In one embodiment, the processor and the memory device reside within the cabinet of a gaming device. Multiple gaming devices are typically connected to a casino information network.

The memory device stores program code and instructions, executable by the processor, to control the gaming device. The memory device also stores other data such as image data, event data, player input data, random or pseudo-random number generators, pay-table data or information, House Ways distributions and applicable game rules that relate to the play of the gaming device. In one embodiment, the memory device includes random access memory (RAM): which can include non-volatile RAM (NVRAM): magnetic RAM (MRAM), ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM), and other forms as commonly understood in the gaming industry. In one embodiment, the memory device includes read only memory (ROM). In one embodiment, the memory device includes flash memory and/or EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read only memory). Any other suitable magnetic, optical, and/or semiconductor memory may operate in conjunction with the gaming device disclosed herein.

In one embodiment, part or all of the program code and/or operating data described above can be stored in a detachable or removable memory device, including, but not limited to, a suitable cartridge, disk, CD ROM, DVD, or USB memory device.

In other embodiments, part or all of the program code and/or operating data described above can be downloaded to the memory device through a suitable network. In one embodiment, an operator or a player can use such a removable memory device in a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable computing device, or another computerized platform to implement the present disclosure.

In one embodiment, the gaming device or gaming machine disclosed herein is operable over a wireless network, for example part of a wireless gaming system. The gaming machine may be a hand-held device, a mobile device, or any other suitable wireless device that enables a player to play any suitable game at a variety of different locations. It should be appreciated that a gaming device or gaming machine as disclosed herein may be a device that has obtained approval from a regulatory gaming commission or a device that has not obtained approval from a regulatory gaming commission. It should be appreciated that the processor and memory device may be collectively referred to herein as a “computer” or “controller” or “game controller.”

In one embodiment, as discussed in more detail below, the gaming device randomly generates awards and/or other game outcomes based on probability data. In one such embodiment, this random determination is provided through utilization of a random number generator (RNG), such as a true random number generator, a pseudo random number generator, or other suitable randomization process. In one embodiment, each award or other game outcome is associated with a probability and the gaming device generates the award or other game outcome to be provided to the player based on the associated probabilities. In this embodiment, since the gaming device generates outcomes randomly or based upon one or more probability calculations, there is no certainty that the gaming device will ever provide the player with any specific award or other game outcome.

In one embodiment, described in more detail below as a “chipless gaming platform,” the gaming device includes one or more display devices that are mounted into a gaming table surface and are controlled by the processor in addition to or separately from the individual player monitors. The display devices are preferably connected to or mounted into the table structure. This may include a central display device which displays a primary game, dealer images, jackpot information, or information that is not specifically related to the game, such as sports information or winning events at other tables. This display device may also display any suitable secondary game associated with the primary game as well as information relating to the primary or secondary game (e.g., side bets, bonuses, jackpots and the like).

An alternative embodiment may include a central horizontal game display device and a vertically oriented virtual dealer display device as in Shuffle Master, Inc.'s Table Master® gaming system. The central display device may display the primary game, any suitable secondary game associated or not associated with the primary game and/or information relating to the primary or secondary game. These display devices may also serve as digital glass operable to advertise games or other aspects of the gaming establishment. The gaming device includes a credit display 20 which displays a player's current number of credits, cash, account balance, or the equivalent. In one embodiment, the gaming device includes a bet display displays a player's amount wagered. In one embodiment, as described in more detail below, the gaming device includes a player tracking display which displays information regarding a player's play tracking status.

In yet another embodiment, at least one display device may be a mobile display device, such as a PDA or tablet PC that enables play of at least a portion of the primary or secondary game at a location remote from the gaming device. The display devices may include, without limitation, a monitor, a television display, a plasma display, a liquid crystal display (LCD) a display based on light emitting diodes (LEDs), a display based on a plurality of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), a display based on polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs), a display based on a plurality of surface-conduction electron-emitters (SEDs), a display including a projected and/or reflected image, or any other suitable electronic device or display mechanism.

In one embodiment, as described in more detail below, the display device includes a touch-screen with an associated touch-screen controller. The display devices may be of any suitable size and configuration, such as a square, a rectangle or an elongated rectangle. The display devices of the gaming device are configured to display at least one and preferably a plurality of game or other suitable images, symbols and indicia such as any visual representation or exhibition of the movement of objects such as mechanical, virtual, or video reels and wheels, dynamic lighting, video images, images of people, characters, places, things, faces of cards, images of dealers and the like.

Other forms of the invention are in the form of game software that is implemented in a variety of formats, such as internet gaming, PC practice play, hand-held game devices, wireless gaming devices and the like.

Chipless Gaming Table Implementation

One enabling system useful in the practice of the present invention is a system marketed under the name i-TABLE® by Shuffle Master, Inc. of Las Vegas, Nev. That system includes: a) a physical gaming table; b) player monitors at each player position; c) a playing card reading and delivery system (e.g., commercially available shufflers and playing card delivery shoes with reading capability as sold under the Trade names of One2Six® shuffler, Ace® shuffler, I-DEAL® shuffler, I-SHOE® delivery shoe, etc.); d) a processor receiving information (numbers of cards, rank of cards, suits of cards, etc.) from the card reading and delivery systems; e) communication connectivity (hardwired or wireless) between necessary combinations of the card reading/delivery systems and the processor, the processor and the individual player monitors, and/or the card reading/delivery systems and the video monitors; and f) software in the processor that defines predetermined advantage for distributions of playing cards into multiple hands, game rules, hand history, and the like.

With regard to software f), it is understood in the practice of the present technology that this is not complex software that reads individual player hand cards and determines advantageous card distributions for a first time by extensive calculations. Rather, the entire range of possibilities of hands (e.g., all possible five card sets dealt to players in poker-style games) are known in poker style games.

The underlying rules of player hand versus dealer hand (and even play of a dragon hand) in Pai Gow poker remain the same, except for when a tie breaker is played in the game. Additional side bets against a paytable, a pot, bad beat wagers and envy wagers may also be made.

A bonus event with a side bet is combined with the traditional game of Pai Gow poker. The bonus event does not in any way alter the strategy of play of the game. The Bonus event requires no additional cards, and adds interest to the game. Each player may make a side bet wager to enter the bonus game. The game may be played and resolved before play of the Pai Gow game is resolved or after play of the Pai Gow game is resolved. The wager is made against a pay table (with a 1:1 payout), rather then against other players and/or the house. The wager is made on whether the three discards at the end of dealing or three residual cards (with a 52 card deck without joker) or the first three cards or last three cards of the four discards or residual cards (with a 53-card deck having a joker) will provide a basis for winning the first side bet. The wager on the first side bet is on a specific color combination (i.e., red or black) for at least two of the three (or three-of-four) residual cards. There are a number of variations that may be played with this wager, but the rules must be clear before resolution of the wager. The following variations are among those available:

-   -   1) With a 52-card deck no joker) exactly 2 or 3 cards of the         wagered color wins, two or three cards of the not chosen color         loses;     -   2) With a 52-card deck no joker) exactly 2 cards of the wagered         color wins, three cards of the chosen color ties or pays 0.5:1;         and two or three cards of the not chosen color loses; or     -   3) With 53-card deck including one joker, exactly 2 or 3 cards         of the wagered color wins, two or three cards of the not chosen         color loses and the joker in the automatically selected 3-cards         of the four discards loses.

The player wins 1:1 on the side bet if at least two of the three (or automatically selected three of four) residual cards is the color wagered on are present in the residual cards. Additional rules may be added to this underlying game play to adjust the house retention.

One rule that tends to be compulsory in the game is that the presence of the joker in the four-card residual hand automatically loses the first side bet wager.

A second type of variation in the technology described herein is where the underlying Pai Gow wager is made on a table position that includes a tie breaker. The use of the tie breaker wager may be the only Pai Gow underlying game wager or may be an optional wager along with an non-tie-breaking wager. Ties occur between a dealer and a player over 25% of the times in normal play of Pai Gow. It is desirable to many players and the casino to have each game finally resolved, so that when there is a tie, some event can be used to resolve the tie and the underlying game wager. The game breaker is preferably is a wager in advance of the playing cards being dealt (again on a color, e.g., red or black) or by automatically selecting a single one of the three or four residual cards, selected in a standardized manner, such as the first card or the last card in the three-card or four-card discard set. The selection of the joker will again cause the player to lose the tie breaker, if the player choose to play using the tie breaker option.

Detail of Use of the Breaker Card With a 53 Card Deck (1 Joker)

Player may wager on only one of the two possible bets on the game of Pai Gow. Player has option to play standard Pai Gow or Pai Gow with a Breaker Card and any other available wagers (e.g., envy wagers and bad beat wagers, as known in the art).

The Breaker Card is one of the 4 remaining cards in the deck after all cards are dealt to all 7 position, 6 players and the dealer. The selected card is position in a designated area. The Breaker Card will determine a winner if the player wins one hand and the dealer wins one hand, which is known as a push, no winner of the game. The Breaker Card is played using the color of the card in the Breaker position, player or dealer with the most matches with their seven cards to the Breaker Card by color win the game. If player and dealer have the same total matches to the Breaker Card by color the game is still a push. If the Breaker Card is the Joker the game is still a push.

The Breaker Card may also be played using the suit of the cards or the ranking of the card instead of color. The Breaker Card may paid a player a bonus if the player's seven card hand has a high number of matches to the Breaker Card, but in return the player would lose if the joker was the Breaker Card.

The following table shows the probabilities of events in the Yin-Yang Side Bet™ wager.

Combina- Proba- Outcome Pays tions bility Frequency Return Joker −1 1,326 0.056604 1 in 17.7 −0.056604 Win: 3-Cards 1 572 0.024417 1 in 41.0 0.024417 in suit Win: 3-Cards 1 2,028 0.086570 1 in 11.6 0.086570 in color Win: 2-Cards 1 8,450 0.360710 1 in 2.8 0.360710 in color or suit Lose −1 11,050 0.471698 1 in 2.1 −0.471698 Total 23,426 1.000000 −0.056604

The game technology described herein may be played with physical playing cards with live or electronic wagering, may be played with electronic gaming tables or video apparatus, and may be played on internet gaming systems, with the cards being provided as physical playing cards or as virtual cards generated through a random access generator.

There are numerous available computer languages that may be used to implement embodiments of the invention, among the more common being Ada; Algol; APL; awk; Basic; C; C++; Cobol; Delphi; Eiffel; Euphoria; Forth; Fortran; HTML; Icon; Java; Javascript; Lisp; Logo; Mathematica; MatLab; Miranda; Modula-2; Oberon; Pascal; Perl; PL/I; Prolog; Python; Rexx; SAS; Scheme; sed; Simula; Smalltalk; Snobol; SQL; Visual Basic; Visual C++; Linux and XML.

Any commercial processor may be used to implement the embodiments of the invention either as a single processor, serial or parallel set of processors in the system. Examples of commercial processors include, but are not limited to Merced™, Pentium™, Pentium II™, Xeon™, Celeron™, Pentium Pro™, Efficeon™, Athlon, AMD and the like.

Display screens may be segment display screen, analogue display screens, digital display screens, CRTs, LED screens, Plasma screens, liquid crystal diode screens, and the like.

A typical electronic format would contain functional elements of an EGM (electronic gaming machine) including a processor, which for illustrative purposes only may be connected via a bus to a plurality of functional elements. The EGM can include a display with associated video driver and touch screen interface, various storage devices such as RAM, ROM and hard drive, a user interface, credit interface, and communication interface. The EGM can be a stand-alone machine, or it can be connected to a network via the communication interface or be part of an electronic gaming table, to enable the machine to participate in multi-game jackpots. In addition, the EGM may be programmed via the communication network from a central control and management processor, so that, for example, new games can be programmed and downloaded into the EGM. 

1. A method of playing a wagering game under the control of a dealer comprising: a) a set of physical playing cards is used to provide random physical playing cards during play of the wagering game; b) a dealer accepts wagers at at least one player position in a Pai Gow game; c) a dealer accepts at the at least one player position an optional wager against a pay table on a specified color combination of playing cards in a separate game that uses only residual cards from the Pai Gow poker game; d) the dealer dealing seven-card hands of physical playing cards of random cards from the set of physical playing cards to six player positions and one dealer position, leaving at least three residual physical playing cards that have not been dealt to players or the dealer as residual cards; e) the dealer resolving the wagers on the game of Pai Gow poker; f) the dealer comparing physical playing cards in the residual physical playing cards to the specific color combination wagered on in step b); and g) and f) the dealer paying player positions where the dealer has accepted the optional wager when the color combination in the residual cards matches the color combination wagered on in step b) without regard to general same suit combinations in the residual cards and wherein the physical playing cards are provided as physical playing cards on a gaming table.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the physical playing cards are provided from a mechanical physical playing card randomizing machine that provides playing cards for the dealer to distribute.
 3. The method of claim 2 wherein the set of cards comprises a standard fifty-two card deck and three residual cards are used to determine the specified color combination, and a playing card randomizing machine provides subsets of physical playing cards in a delivery tray for the dealer to deliver to positions on the gaming table.
 3. The method of claim 2 wherein the set of cards consists of fifty-three cards, a fifty-two card playing card deck and one joker and exactly three of the residual cards are used to determined the specified color combination.
 4. The method of claim 3 wherein the dealer accepts wagers at each player position on a specified color combination event selected from the group consisting of: a) only one card is a specific suit; b) exactly two cards are a specific suit; c) exactly three cards are a specific suit; d) only one card is a specific color; e) exactly two cards are a specific color; and f) exactly three cards are a specific color.
 5. The method of claim 3 wherein the dealer accepts a single wager at a player position on a specified color combination event encompassing each of two events selected from the group consisting of two cards are a specific color and three cards are a specific color.
 6. The method of claim 2 wherein the presence of a joker in the residual cards causes the optional wager at a player position to be forfeit, regardless of the suit, color or rank of other residual cards.
 7. The method of claim 3 wherein the presence of a joker in the residual cards causes the optional wager at a player position to be forfeit, regardless of the suit, color or rank of other residual cards.
 8. The method of claim 4 wherein the presence of a joker in the residual cards causes the optional wager at a player position to be forfeit, regardless of the suit, color or rank of other residual cards.
 9. The method of claim 1 wherein the wagering accepted by the dealer on the game of Pai Gow poker comprises accepting a wager that includes the steps of including a Tie Breaker event in the underlying game of Pai Gow and the playing cards are provided by an automatic card handling device that either shuffles entire physical sets of playing cards or provides random cards removed from the physical set of playing cards.
 10. The method of claim 3 wherein the wagering accepted by the dealer on the game of Pai Gow poker comprises accepting a wager that includes the steps of including a Tie Breaker event in the underlying game of Pai Gow.
 12. The method of claim 10 where a single card in the residual cards is used by the dealer as a basis for a tie breaking event.
 13. The method of claim 1 wherein the dealer physically moves cards in step d) and the physical playing cards that are moved are provided from a mechanical physical playing card randomizing machine that provides playing cards for the dealer to distribute.
 14. The method of claim 4 wherein the dealer physically moves cards in step d) and the physical playing cards are provided from a mechanical physical playing card randomizing machine that provides playing cards for the dealer to distribute.
 15. The method of claim 10 wherein the dealer physically moves cards in step d) and the physical playing cards are provided from a mechanical physical playing card randomizing machine that provides playing cards for the dealer to distribute.
 16. The method of claim 1 wherein the physical set of playing cards are provided from a physical playing card randomizing machine, and specific numbers of playing cards are provided for the dealer to distribute to a single position at at least one step during play of the game.
 17. A method of playing a wagering game on an electronic system under the control of a virtual dealer, the electronic system comprising a processor, a video display screen and player input controls at at least one player position, the processor acting as a virtual dealer comprising: a) a virtual set of virtual playing cards is provided by the processor as a randomized set of playing cards; b) a virtual dealer accepts wagers at at least one player position in a Pai Gow game; c) a virtual dealer accepts at the at least one player position an optional wager against a pay table on a specified color combination of playing cards in a separate game that uses only residual cards from the Pai Gow poker game; d) the virtual dealer dealing seven-card hands of physical playing cards from the randomized set of physical playing cards to six player positions and one virtual dealer position, leaving at least three residual physical playing cards that have not been dealt to players or the virtual dealer as residual cards; of the two locations, for a total of four cards at each player position; e) the virtual dealer resolving the wagers on the game of Pai Gow poker; f) the virtual dealer comparing physical playing cards in the residual physical playing cards to the specific color combination wagered on in step b); and g) the virtual dealer paying players who have placed the optional wager when the color combination in the residual
 18. The method of claim 17 wherein the virtual dealer accepts a wager on each of the player's two hand locations for a bonus wager paid off at odds listed by the virtual dealer on a virtual paytable saved on the processor, the virtual dealer resolving the wagers with odds and paying player position hands based on the odds listed on the virtual paytable.
 19. A method of playing a Pai Gow poker wagering card game according to claim 1 wherein the wager accepted by the dealer on the underlying game includes the steps of including a Tie Breaker event in the underlying game of Pai Gow, and a single card in the residual cards is used as a basis for a tie breaking event.
 20. The method of claim 19 wherein the tie breaking event uses the single card from the residual cards to determine a color, and the color determines a tie breaking outcome by at least one of the following events: a) the initial underlying wager was accepted by the dealer at an area dedicated to a single color, and in the event of a tie, the acceptance of the underlying wager in an area dedicated to the color of the single residual card breaks the tie in favor of the player position or dealer. 